Archive | National Parks

Ansel Adams wilderness is so huge that one will never run out of loops or day hikes to do. This is our second trip to the wilderness. We only had permit for one night at the wilderness this time. These permits get sold out quickly. However at visitor center, they do issue walk-up permits. Call ahead to […]

After the 25-mile Grand Canyon Rim-Rim hike, we stayed at Grand Canyon Motel @ Fredonia again. Next day morning, we drove to Zion National Park. This is my second trip to the park. First time we went there, we did the angels landing hike in 2013. Since we only spent a day last time, I was thrilled […]

Grand Canyon National Park rim-to-rim hike has been on my list for years. When a friend offered us permits, it was a no-brainer. After sunset at Coral Pink Sand Dunes, we drove in the direction of Grand Canyon National Park. The plan was to stay at Kanab. However, all the hotels/motels were booked by the […]

It was a Sunday when we reached the park and both the campgrounds had just opened for the season. We found a site at Sunset campground and by evening all the sites were fully booked out. Picked up the map from the visitor center and did all touristy stops along with a short hike to […]

May 2016, we were on a trip to Utah, Arizona and Nevada for a 9-day hiking & roadtrip. After a long 10-hour drive, we broke at St.George, UT for the night. As we drove in the direction of Bryce Canyon National Park, Google Maps showed three different routes and we took the most green-looking route and it […]

It was April 1st week and we had 4-days to do a road trip. Given the good snow year, Hwy 395 was a no brainer. Started Wednesday evening and drove 4 hours to Bakersfield to stay that night. Next day morning we drove another 4-hrs to Death Valley National Park. It’s hour second trip to […]

After our first visit to Death Valley National Park in the peak summer of 2013, we went back for Super bloom, the once in a decade bloom of wild flowers. To be clear, its super bloom for desert standards. There are other parks in California with much denser wildflowers. We camped at furnace creek campground […]

After Adam’s Peak hike, from Siripada we took an auto(tuk-tuk) to get to Hatton because the next bus was an hour or so away. Plus, I loved the idea of taking tuk-tuk through the mountains and around the lake because we stopped as we wished. If I remember correctly we paid Rs. 1500 for the tuk-tuk […]

Just an hour outside of Nuwara Eliya, the national park has no public transportation. Most of the people go by tuk-tuk or car/van organized by the hotels/hostels. We went with our hostel owner in the auto and had to leave at 5:30AM to get there for sunrise. I believe its a 7 – 9miles loop. […]

We have been going to Yosemite National Park in February for the past three years and 2016 is certainly a huge improvement in water situation. After having spent two sunsets in 2015 waiting for horsetail with disappointment, I am thrilled to have photographed horsetail this year. We left Sunnyvale around 8AM and reached Yosemite View Lodge around […]